Photo of Bacterial Infection or 'greenie' if you haven't seen one before.

[Bev Rose]

A client arrived this morning for her rebalance sporting a rather large bacterial infection on her thumb nail.

The infection was caused by moisture seeping through a crack in nail & left to breed in the warm, moist environment.

The client caused the trauma herself by banging the nail.
The crack & subsequent lifting can along with the 'Greenie' can be seen in this pic.

I thought I'd post this, as somepeople have never come across these before & thankfully I only ever see them on rare occasions.

 

[MrsR]

Wow thanks for that hun always interesting to see.

 

[berenicefuentes]

This happened to me once. Before I was trained to do nails I would go to some lady and get my nails done there. I had no idea what it was until I did my nail training.

 

[JANEY K]

thanks for displaying greenie pic bev..i'm just starting out and never seen or come across nail bacteria under enhancements ...now i know what to look for
jane x

 

[Vyx]

Thanks Bev. Also one of the apparent hoardes of newbies :0 so that was really useful to see.

 

[adelekeegan1]

Definitely a bacterial infection or greenie.

 

[emma_168]

so how did you treat that? by taking whole thing off? xxx

 

[Bev Rose]

Its not a bacteria infection.

Bacteria cannot grow on the nail plate.

I thought it was called a moisture trap where the water cannot escape because its trapped under the acrylic, hence the nail becomes discoloured.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

OK, I'll correct you, without meaning to offend....according the 'The Encyclopedia of Nails' by Jackie Jefford & Anne Swain....

'Bacterial Infections usually take the form of paronychias. However there is another type of non-invasive bacterial infection which can be encountered in the nail services we provide. This can occur as a green to black discolouration on the surface of the natural nail plate, but underneath a lifted section of the product overlay. There is a general misconception that this discolouration is either a 'mould' or 'fungal' infection. The correct term is pseudomonas bacteria and, in fact, most dark discolourations are formed by bacteria and not fungi.
A bacterial infection can occur between the natural nail plate and the overlay. This can occur no matter whatsystem is used, and for many reasons. The bacterial infection can be yellow or green in colour, the longer before it is detected the darker the green colour becomes. The green discolouration is a by-product of the bacteria and not the bacteria themselves. Therefore, the green discolouration is where the bacteria have already been. A point to remember is that bacteria will only thrive in a warm, moist environment with a good source of food.'

Have a look at this article by The Geek....

http://www.salongeek.com/health-safety-unaturale/2641-moldy-oldy-fun-guys.html

 

[Bev Rose]

so how did you treat that? by taking whole thing off? xxx

To quote The Geek himself, from the above mentioned article.....

Ok, lets say you have got a lil infection...What should you do?

• Dissolve product from plate (never force any product off any nail)
• Gently and lightly buff with a 240 grit abrasive to help reduce the stain. (Do not use your abrasive as an eraser!!) you very likely will not be able to remove the stain, just lighten it up a lil. Be sure to throw this abrasive away when your done.
• Cleanse, sanitise, and dehydrate with ScrubFresh to remove the food that the infection is feeding from. If you remove the food, the infection cant grow.
• Reapply product, but keep a close eye on it, if it continues to darken, or look worse...Remove product and refer to a Derm.

 

[Mrs Gadget]

Ok thanks for that.

No offence taken.

Ju

 

[emma_168]

thats great, il keep my eye out. iv had a vague idea what i was lookin for and how to go about solvin prob but good to hear 1st hand xx

 

[sedgecl]

Thanks for this, I will show my nail tech tomorrow just in case she hasn't seen one before. What a great site....Thanks

 

[Bev Rose]

I'm really pleased that you all are finding this interesting.

I rarely see one of these and I've been in the industry for almost 5 years.
So, I thought, I'd take a piccy and post it on here, as when I've searched on google etc, most of the pics are of these infections WITHOUT and enhancement on.
I appreciate the pic is not in perfect focus (unless you are looking beyond the hand:irked:!), but I hope it goes a little way in helping those not familiar with this kind of thing to look closer at their clients nails when they come back. Especially those who are prone to trash their nails.

This particular client is very hard on her nails and has 2 dogs, a cat, 2 hamsters & a rabbit and guess who cleans them out! With a cracked & lifted nail, there's no wonder she came in sporting this!

 

[nail-chick]

I see this happen quite a bit with clients who bang their hands around like they're construction workers.
Then, some (now ex-clients) try to blame me for it. "Oh my, did yo do something wrong?, I swear I didn't do anything wrong!"
Some of the education doesn't seek in.

Kathleen

 

[nailzoo]

Great picture, but I think the moisture has crept under the side, the crack would have made a larger weaker area.

just my opinion ..........

 

[Bev Rose]

Yes Carl, there was a great deal of lifting on that thumb, and at the sidewall coming down from the crack towards the smile line and almost right across the nail. As a result of the nail being banged or mistreated.

This client nails don't lift in the normal run of things. She is very hard on them and often calls in for 'running repairs' as she calls them. Usually from housework & her favourite way to damage them is changing bed linen - she bangs her fingers on the wall apparently - some people never learn!

 

[suzie49]

Good thread this, I have obviously read about it but not seen it before as I have just started out, and hope not to see it in any of my clients, but if I do I will know what to look for Thanks x